Thoughts

Monday, August 3, 2015

Does bad dress sense mean lack of professional credibility?

As Greece walks on egg shells yielding to the plan from creditors, we learn the importance of a basic principle- Bad dress sense leads to lack of professional credibility.

Yanis Varoukfais, an erudite in true sense, with MSc in Mathematical Statistics, PhD in Economics and sometimes credited as most knowledgeable man on Game Theory, had some brilliant ideas for Greek debt swap, which didn’t find much favour with the German creditors. Probably no one was as honest as Varoufakis in openly stating Greece’s inability to service its debt since the first liquidity injection in 2010. His statement to the press on July 6, 2015, when he was forced to resign, speaks to the clarity and grasp he commands on the Greece debt crises.

Regardless, Varoufakis is being thrown under the bus, accused of illegally plotting Greece’s exit and to some degree being made a scape goat for the resurgence of Greece’s liquidity problems this year. I propose these accusation stem from him not fitting in with his European counterparts. Unfortunately, his good message was lost, and his proposal discredited because he didn’t behave in line with how European politics works. To add fuel to the fire, he didn’t blend in with political elite by dressing conservatively. He vocalized his thoughts openly without first socializing and seeking blessing of the current European rainmakers.

Motorbike riding, loud shirt wearing thought-leader’s message was discounted and dismissed. A political shame, as we will see Greece’s economy further shrink in the coming years under the burden of huge debt payments. Varoufakis channelled a radical image that cast him as an outsider from the very start when he was appointed Minister of Finance.

Varoufakis made news when he walked into Downing Street dressed casually; wearing a leather jacket. An article by TheGuardian referred to the attire as “Madchester drug dealer’s coat”.

Europe is in dire need of radical thinking to salvage Greece and the other Greece’s in making, but at the same time, Varoufakis stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the Eurogroup political class, which disliked his casual clothes and non-conformist attitude, and could never move past it to embrace sound macroeconomic plan proposal. This international debacle underscores that dressing can’t be taken casually, even if one is brilliant.